Topic: How can bitcoin be used in shops, if payments take so long to process? - page 3. (Read 3422 times)

If a transaction has the appropriate fees attached, there is little risk.  However that does not mean that there is no risk.   Use you judgement.   If it's for more than a few dollars, I think most people won't mind waiting 10-20 minutes for a confirmation or two.

There is ALWAYS risk with ANY form of payment.

If you are accepting U.S. dollars, there is a risk that you will accidentally accept high quality counterfeit bills. You may not know this has happened for a day or so until you try to deposit the bill at the bank.  By then, it may be difficult to recall many details about the person that gave you the counterfeit when you talk to the police and they attempt to track down the criminal.

If you are accepting credit cards, there is a risk that a chargeback may occur against your business for a variety of reasons.  If it is due to credit card fraud, you may not know this has happened for several weeks (or even months). By then, it may be difficult to recall many details about the person that used the credit card when you talk to the police and they attempt to track down the criminal.

If you are accepting bitcoins, there is a risk that they will successfully get a replacement transaction confirmed before the transaction that you see is confirmed.  You may not know that this has happened for an hour or so.  Of the three situations we've discussed here, you have the best chance of recalling some details about the thief when you contact the police in this situation.

Furthermore you can create software that checks some very simple details that will drastically reduce the risk when accepting bitcoin transactions.

If you verify that:

• Your wallet is well connected to multiple geographically distributed peers (or directly connected to several large mining pools)
• The transaction has been well propagated (especially if your software has heard about the transaction from several large mining pools)
• The transaction includes a reasonable fee per kilobyte
• All inputs to the transaction are already confirmed

Then you can be VERY confident that the transaction will confirm.  It would be extremely difficult (nearly impossible) to reverse such a transaction.  I'd personally feel comfortable accepting a transaction worth hundreds of dollars without confirmation if it met the criteria above.
  

It is always good to see a member here interesting in investing in a shop that accepting BTC as payment.  I would accept most other forms of payment as well.  Welcome to the forum and good luck with your business idea.

Good luck and Welcome aboard.

Really cool tip, thanks! I am still in really early stages but useful to know, cheers! Have a great weekend

Looks like an interesting place!

If your store/shop is going crypto . 1. have a sign up sheet get their twitter,FB and social media links .So you can send enticing product pics with a crypto only price and that gets their friends and family involved.

Anytime! and now the plug When In las Vegas 18b The Arts District where Vegas and crypto meet .lol

That counts as rare! Right that has really cleared that up for me - thanks so much for the advice chief!

2 years ,76 local stores never 1 bad transaction

 Edit alot of the stores take many other coins beside bitcoin and all as soon as the chain sees the trans . it is yours and that has been always within seconds.

Ahah that is interesting. Thanks for the information. Would you say there is any risk for vendors or is it rare to have problems?

Thats vendors discretion. But we and the other shops in 18b Las vegas just need to see that its sent to chain and sale is finalized then.Like the BTMs same instant blockchain sees it they pay out.

One thing I'm still not sure I understand about bitcoin's viability to work in real world stores - is how long it takes for payments to process.

How does this work from a store owner's perspective? How can you be sure you will get your money if someone walks in and offers to pay via bitcoin?

Would the customer not have to wait there with you until the transaction is confirmed to avoid the possibility of being scammed somehow?

Thanks in advance for any answers.